Opportunities for the preemptive formation of decent labor remuneration for researchers in the Russian regions

Objective: to assess the level of formation of conditions for decent remuneration of researchers in the Russian regions. Currently, this sphere faces either being ahead of the targets proposed by the state as part of the social policy implementation, or lagging behind them.

Methods: the study uses a methodology of calculating the modified advance coefficient, which determines the growth rate of employees’ wages in comparison with the growth rate of the target indicator in the regions. The modified methodology also provides for accounting for the impact of horizontal unevenness on wages in science, which triggers the “middle income trap”. Due to this trap, measurements of the effectiveness of public policy in the studied area are not amenable to clear categorization. The coefficient implies taking into account the growth rate of wages of researchers, the growth rate of the target indicator and the weight of the region (which in turn reflects the formation of conditions for decent wages for all employees in the Russian Federation subject).

Results: according to calculations based on Rosstat data for 2021, only one region showed an advanced growth rate of researchers’ salaries (Leningradskaya oblast). In the remaining 79 Russian Federation subjects, the growth rate of wages in science is lagging behind the growth rate of the target indicator (i.e., they have not used all the opportunities for the formation of decent earnings of researchers). The achievement of the target indicator (200% of the average wage of employees in the region) in these territories is due to the growth of salaries of a limited part of the staff.

Scientific novelty: the study determined an algorithm for monitoring the advanced wage growth of researchers in the Russian regions and the principles of public policy (as a set of fundamental and institutional solutions) that will contribute to the formation of decent wages in Russian science.

Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used to form a system of state monitoring of wages in budgetary sectors, as well as to improve the “Science” national project.

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